Do not imagine for an instant that I pretend to be
able thoroughly to elucidate the great mysteries of predestination. There are some men who
claim to know all about the matter. They twist it round their fingers as easily as if it
were an everyday thing; but depend upon it, he who thinks he knows all about this mystery,
knows but very little. It is but the shallowness of his mind that permits him to see the
bottom of his knowledge; he who dives deep, finds that there is in the lowest depth to
which he can attain a deeper depth still. The fact is, that the great questions about
man's responsibility, free-will, and predestination, have been fought over, and over, and
over again, and have been answered in ten thousand different ways; and the result has
been, that we know just as much about the matter as when we first began. The combatants
have thrown dust into each other's eyes, and have hindered each other from seeing; and
then they have concluded, that because they put other people's eyes out, they could
therefore see.

Now, it is one thing to refute another
man's doctrine, but a very different matter to establish my own views. It is very easy to
knock over one man's hypothesis concerning these truths, not quite so easy to make my own
stand on a firm footing. I shall try to-night, if I can, to go safely, if I do not go very
fast; for I shall endeavour to keep simply to the letter of God's Word. I think that if we
kept more simply to the teachings of the Bible, we should be wiser than we are; for by
turning from the heavenly light of revelation, and trusting to the deceitful
will-o'-the-wisps of our own imagination, we thrust ourselves into quags and bogs where
there is no sure footing, and we begin to sink; and instead of making progress, we find
ourselves sticking fast. The truth is, neither you nor I have any right to want to know
more about predestination than what God tells us. That is enough for us. If it were worth
while for us to know more, God would have revealed more. What God has told us, we are to
believe, but to the knowledge thus gained, we are too apt to add our own vague notions,
and then we are sure to go wrong. It would be better, if in all controversies, men had
simply stood hard and fast by "Thus saith the Lord," instead of having it said,
"Thus and thus I think." I shall now endeavour, by the help of the Holy Spirit,
to throw the light of God's Word upon this great doctrine of divine sovereignty, and give
you what I think to be a Scriptural statement of the fact, that some men are chosen, other
men are left,the great fact that is declared in this text," Jacob have I
loved, but Esau have I hated."

It is a terrible text, and I will be
honest with it if I can. One man says the word "hate" does not mean hate; it
means "love less:""Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I loved
less." It may be so: but I don't believe it is. At any rate, it says "hate"
here; and until you give me another version of the Bible, I shall keep to this one. I
believe that the term is correctly and properly translated; that the word "hate"
is not stronger than the original; but even if it be a little stronger, it is nearer the
mark than the other translation which is offered to us in those meaningless words,
"love less." I like to take it and let it stand just as it is. The fact is, God
loved Jacob, and he did not love Esau; he did choose Jacob, but he did not choose Esau; he
did bless Jacob, but he never blessed Esau; his mercy followed Jacob all the way of his
life, even to the last, but his mercy never followed Esau; he permitted him still to go on
in his sins, and to prove that dreadful truth, "Esau have I hated." Others, in
order to get rid of this ugly text, say, it does not mean Esau and Jacob; it means the
nation; it means Jacob's children and Esau's children; it means the children of Israel and
Edom. I should like to know where the difference lies. Is the difficulty removed by
extending it? Some of the Wesleyan brethren say, that there is a national election; God
has chosen one nation and not another. They turn round and tell us it is unjust in God to
choose one man and not another. Now, we ask them by everything reasonable, is it not
equally unjust of God to choose one nation and leave another? The argument which they
imagine overthrows us overthrows them also. There never was a more foolish subterfuge than
that of trying to bring out national election. What is the election of a nation but the
election of so many units, of so many people? and it is tantamount to the same
thing as the particular election of individuals. In thinking, men cannot see clearly that
ifwhich we do not for a moment believethat if there be any injustice in God
choosing one man and not another, how much more must there be injustice in his choosing
one nation and not another. No! the difficulty cannot be got rid of thus, but is greatly
increased by this foolish wresting of God's Word. Besides, here is the proof that that is
not correct; read the verse preceding it. It does not say anything at all about nations,
it says, "For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil,
that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that
calleth; It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger,"referring to
the children, not to the nations. Of course the threatening was afterwards fulfilled in
the position of the two nations; Edom was made to serve Israel. But this text means just
what it says; it does not mean nations, but it means the persons mentioned.
"Jacob,"that is the man whose name was Jacob" Jacob have I
loved, but Esau have I hated." Take care my dear friends, how any of you meddle with
God's Word. I have heard of folks altering passages they did not like. It will not do, you
know, you cannot alter them; they are really just the same. Our only power with the Word
of God is simply to let it stand as it is, and to endeavour by God's grace to accommodate
ourselves to that. We must never try to make the Bible bow to us, in fact we cannot, for
the truths of divine revelation are as sure and fast as the throne of God. If a man wants
to enjoy a delightful prospect, and a mighty mountain lies in his path, does he commence
cutting away at its base, in the vain hope that ultimately it will become a level plain
before him? No, on the contrary, he diligently uses it for the accomplishment of his
purpose by ascending it, well knowing this to be the only means of obtaining the end in
view. So must we do; we cannot bring down the truths of God to our poor finite
understandings; the mountain will never fall before us, but we can seek strength to rise
higher and higher in our perception of divine things, and in this way only may we hope to
obtain the blessing.

Now, I shall have two things to notice
to-night. I have explained this text to mean just what it says, and I do not want it to be
altered" Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." To take off the edge
of this terrible doctrine that makes real some people bite their lips so, I must just
notice that this is a fact; and, after that, I shall try to answer the
question,Why was it that God loved Jacob and hated Esau?

I. First, then, THIS IS FACT. Men say
they do not like the doctrine of election. Verily, I do not want them to; but is it not a
fact that God has elected some? Ask an Arminian brother about election, and at once his
eye turns fiercely upon you, and he begins to get angry, he can't bear it; it is a
horrible thing, like a war-cry to him, and he begins to sharpen the knife of controversy
at once. But say to him, "Ah, brother! was it not divine grace that made you to
differ? Was it not the Lord who called you out of your natural state, and made you what
you are? "Oh, yes," he says," "I quite agree with you there."
Now, put this question to him: "What do you think is the reason why one man has been
converted, and not another?" "Oh," he says, "the Spirit of God has
been at work in this man." Well, then, my brother, the fact is, that God does
treat one man better than another; and is there anything wonderful in this fact? It is a
fact we recognize every day. There is a man up in the gallery there, that work as hard as
he likes, he cannot earn more than fifteen shillings a week; and here is another man that
gets a thousand a year; what is the reason of this? One is born in the palaces of kings,
while another draws his first breath in a roofless hovel What is the reason of this? God's
providence. He puts one man in one position, and another man in another. Here is a man
whose head cannot hold two thoughts together, do what you will with him; here is another
who can sit down and write a book, and dive into the deepest of questions; what is the
reason of it? God has done it. Do you not see the fact, that God does not treat every man
alike? He has made some eagles, and some worms; some he has made lions, and some creeping
lizards; he has made some men kings, and some are born beggars. Some are born with
gigantic minds and some verge on the idiot. Why is this? Do you murmur at God for it? No,
you say it is a fact, and there is no good in murmuring. What is the use of kicking
against facts? It is only kicking against the pricks with naked feet, and you hurt
yourself and not them. Well, then, election is a positive fact; it is as clear as
daylight, that God does, in matters of religion, give to one man more than to another. He
gives to me opportunities of hearing the word, which he does nor give to the Hottentot. He
gives to me, parents who, from infancy, trained me in the fear of the Lord. He does not
give that to many of you. He places me afterwards in situations where I am restrained from
sin. Other men are cast into places where their sinful passions are developed. He gives,
to one man a temper and disposition which keeps him back from some lust, and to another
man he gives such impetuosity of spirit, and depravity turns that impetuosity so much
aside, that the man runs headlong into sin. Again, he brings one man under the sound of a
powerful ministry, while another sits and listens to a preacher whose drowsiness is only
exceeded by that of his hearers. And even when they are hearing the gospel, the fact is
God works in one heart when be does not in another. Though, I believe to a degree, the
Spirit works in the hearts of all who hear the Word, so that they are all without excuse,
yet I am sure he works in some so powerfully, that they can no longer resist him, but are
constrained by his grace to cast themselves at his feet, and confess him Lord of all;
while others resist the grace that comes into their hearts; and it does not act with the
same irresistible force that it does in the other case, and they perish in their sins,
deservedly and justly condemned. Are not these things facts? Does any man deny them? can
any man deny them? What is the use of kicking against facts? I always like to know when
there is a discussion, what is the fact. You have heard the story of King Charles the
Second and the philosophersKing Charles asked one of them, "What is the reason
why, if you had a pail of water, and weighed it, and then put a fish into it, that the
weight would be the same?" They gave a great many elaborate reasons for this. At last
one of them said, "Is it the fact?" And then they found out that the water did
weigh more, just as much more as the fish put into it. So all their learned arguments fell
to the ground. So, when we are talking about election, the best thing is to say, "Put
aside the doctrine for a moment, let us see what is the fact?" We walk abroad; we
open our eyes; we see, there is the fact. What, then, is the use of our discussing any
longer? We had better believe it, since it is an undeniable truth. You may alter an
opinion, but you cannot alter a fact. You may change a mere doctrine, but you cannot
possibly change a thing which actually exists. There it isGod does certainly deal
with some men better than he does with others. I will not offer an apology for God; he can
explain his own dealings; he needs no defence from me,

"God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain;"

but there stands the fact. Before you
begin to argue upon the doctrine, just recollect, that whatever you may think about it,
you cannot alter it; and however much you may object to it, it is actually true that God
did love Jacob, and did not love Esau.

For now look at Jacob's life and read his
history; you are compelled to say that, from the first hour that he left his father's
house, even to the last, God loved him. Why, he has not gone far from his father's house
before he is weary, and he lies down with a stone for his pillow, and the hedges for his
curtain, and the sky for his canopy; and he goes to sleep, and God comes and talks to him
in his sleep; he sees a ladder, whereof the top reaches to heaven, and a company of angels
ascending and descending upon it; and he goes on his journey to Laban. Laban tries to
cheat him, and as often as Laban tries to wrong him, God suffers it not, but multiplies
the different cattle that Laban gives him. Afterwards, you remember, when he fled unawares
from Laban, and was pursued, that God appears to Laban in a dream, and charges him not to
speak to Jacob either good or bad. And more memorable still, when his sons Levi and Simeon
have committed murder in Shethem, and Jacob is afraid that he will be overtaken and
destroyed by the inhabitants who were rising against him, God puts a fear upon the the
people, and says to them, "Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophet no harm."
And when a famine comes over the land, God has sent Joseph into Egypt, to provide corn in
Goshen for his brethren, that they should live and not die. And see the happy end of
Jacob" I shall see my son Joseph before I die." Behold the tears streaming
down his aged cheeks, as he clasps his own Joseph to his bosom! See how magnificently he
goes into the presence of Pharaoh, and blesses him. It is said, "Jacob blessed
Pharoah." He had God's love so much in him, that he was free to bless the mightiest
monarch of his times. At last he gave up the ghost, and it was said at once, "This
was a man that God loved." There is the fact that God did love Jacob.

On the other hand, there is the fact that
God did not love Esau. He permitted Esau to become the father of princes, but he has not
blessed his generation. Where is the house of Esau now? Edom has perished. She built her
chambers in the rock, and cut out her cities in the flinty rock; but God has abandoned the
inhabitants thereof, and Edom is not to be found. They became the bond-slaves of Israel;
and the kings of Edom had to furnish a yearly tribute of wool to Solomon and his
successors; and now the name of Esau is erased from the book of history. Now, then, I must
say, again, this ought to take off at least some of the bitterness of controversy, when we
recollect that it is the fact, let men say what they will, that God did love Jacob, and he
did not love Esau.

II. But now the second point of my
subject is, WHY IS THIS? Why did God love Jacob? why did he hate Esau? Now, I am not going
to undertake too much at once. You say to me, "Why did God love Jacob? and why did he
hate Esau?" We will take one question at a time; for the reason why some people get
into a muddle in theology is, because they try to give an answer to two questions. Now, I
shall not do that; I will tell you one thing at a time. I will tell you why God loved
Jacob; and, then, I will tell you why he hated Esau. But I cannot give you the same reason
for two contradictory things. That is wherein a great many have failed. They have sat down
and seen these facts, that God loved Jacob and hated Esau, that God has an elect people,
and that there are others who are not elect. If, then, they try to give the same reason
for election and non-election, they make sad work of it. If they will pause and take one
thing at a time, and look to God's Word, they will not go wrong.

The first question is, why did God
love Jacob? I am not at all puzzled to answer this, because when I turn to the Word of
God, I read this text;"Not for your sakes, do I this saith the Lord God, be it
known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways O house of Israel." I am
not at a loss to tell you that it could not be for any good thing in Jacob, that God loved
him, because I am told that "the children being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election might stand, not of works but
of him that calleth." I can tell you the reason why God loved Jacob; It is
sovereign grace. There was nothing in Jacob that could make God love him; there was
everything about him, that might have made God hate him, as much as he did Esau, and a
great deal more. But it was because God was infinitely gracious, that he loved Jacob, and
because he was sovereign in his dispensation of this grace, that he chose Jacob as the
object of that love. Now, I am not going to deal with Esau, until I have answered the
question on the side of Jacob. I want just to notice this, that Jacob was loved of God,
simply on the footing of free grace. For, come now, let us look at Jacob's character; I
have already said in the exposition, what I think of him. I do think the very smallest
things of Jacob's character. As a natural man, he was always a bargain-maker.

I was struck the other day with that
vision that Jacob had at Bethel: it seemed to me a most extraordinary development of
Jacob's bargain-making spirit. You know he lay down, and God was pleased to open the doors
of heaven to him, so that he saw God sitting at the top of the ladder, and the angels
ascending and descending upon it. What do you suppose he said as soon as he awoke? Well,
he said, "Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and
said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the
gate of heaven." Why, if Jacob had had faith, he would not have been afraid of God:
on the contrary, he would have rejoiced that God had thus permitted him to hold fellowship
with him. Now, hear Jacob's bargain. God had simply said to him, "I am the Lord God
of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I
give it, and to thy seed." He did not say anything about what Jacob was to do: God
only said, I will do it,"Behold I am with thee, and will keep thee in
all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not
leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." Now, can you
believe, that after God had spoken face to face with Jacob, that he would have had the
impudence to try and make a bargain with God? But he did. He begins and says, "If"
There now, the man has had a vision, and an absolute promise from God, and yet he begins
with an "If." That is bargain-making with a vengeance! "If
God will be with me, and will keep me in the way that I go, and will give me bread to eat,
and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my Father's house in peace, then"not
withoutmark, he is going to hold God to his bargain"then shall,
the Lord be my God: and this stone which I have set up for a pillar, shall be Gods
house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee." I
marvel at this! If I did not know something about my own nature, I should be utterly
unable to understand it. What! a man that has talked with God, then begin to make a
bargain with him! that has seen the only way of access between heaven and earth, the
ladder Christ Jesus, and has had a covenant made between himself and God, a covenant that
is all on God's partall a promiseand yet wants after that to hold God to the
bargain: as if he were afraid God would break his promise! Oh! this was vile indeed!

Then notice his whole life. While he
lived with Laban, what miserable work it was. He had got into the hands of a man of the
world; and whenever a covetous Christian gets into such company, a terrible scene ensues!
There are the two together, greedy and grasping. If an angel could look down upon them,
how would he weep to see the man of God fallen from his high place, and become as bad as
the other. Then, the device that Jacob used, when he endeavoured to get his wages was most
extraordinary. Why did he not leave it to God, instead of adopting such systems as that?
The whole way through we are ashamed of Jacob; we cannot help it. And then, there is that
grand period in his life, the turning point, when we are told, that "Jacob wrestled
with God, and prevailed." We will look at thatI have carefully studied the
subject, and I do not think so much of him as I did. I thought Jacob wrestled with God,
but I find it is the contrary; he did not wrestle with God; God wrestled with him. I had
always set Jacob up, in my mind, as the very model of a man wrestling in prayer; I do not
think so now. He divided his family, and put a person in front to appease Esau. He did not
go in front himself, with the holy trust that a patriarch should have felt; guarded with
all the omnipotence of heaven, he might boldly have gone to meet his brother, but no! he
did not feel certain that the latter would bow at his feet, although the promise said,
"The elder shall serve the younger." He did not rest on that promise; it was not
big enough for him. Then he went at night to the brook Jabbok. I do not know what for,
unless he went to pray; but I am afraid it was not so. The text says, "And Jacob was
left alone: and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day." There
is a great deal of difference between a man wrestling with me, and my wrestling with him.
When I strive with anyone, I want to gain something from him, and when a man wrestles with
me, he wants to get something out of me. Therefore, I take it, when the man wrestled with
Jacob, he wanted to get his cunning and deceit out of him, and prove what a poor sinful
creature he was, but he could not do it. Jacob's craft was so strong, that he could not be
overcome; at last, the angel touched his thigh, and showed him his own hollowness. And
Jacob turned round and said, "Thou hast taken away my strength, now I will wrestle
with thee;" and when his thigh was out of joint, when he fully felt his own
weakness, then, and not till then, is he brought to say, "I will not let thee
go, except thou bless me." He had had fall confidence in his own strength, but God at
last humbled him, and when all his boasted power was gone, then it was that Jacob became a
prevailing prince. But, even after that, his life is not clear. Then you find him an
unbelieving creature; and we have all been as bad. Though we are blaming Jacob, brethren,
we blame ourselves. We are hard with him, but we shall be harder with ourselves. Do you
not remember the memorable speech of the patriarch, when he said, "Joseph is not, and
Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me?" Ah,
Jacob, why cannot you believe the promise? All other promises have been fulfilled. But no!
he could not think of the promise; he was always wanting to live by sight.

Now, I say if the character of Jacob, be
as I have described it, and I am sure it iswe have got it in God's wordthere
was, there could have been nothing in Jacob, that made God love him; and the only reason
why God loved him, must have been because of his own grace, because "he will have
mercy on whom he will have mercy." And rest assured, the only reason why any of us
can hope to be saved is this, the sovereign grace of God. There is no reason why I should
be saved, or why you should be saved, but God's own merciful heart, and God's own
omnipotent will. Now that is the doctrine; it is taught not only in this passage, but in
multitudes of other passages of God's Word. Dear friends, receive it, hold fast by it, and
never let it go.

Now, the next question is a different
one: Why did God hate Esau? I am not going to mix this question up with the other,
they are entirely distinct, and I intend to keep them so, one answer will not do for two
questions, they must be taken separately, and then can be answered satisfactorily. Why
does God hate any man? I defy anyone to give any answer but this, because that man
deserves it; no reply but that can ever be true. There are some who answer, divine
sovereignty; but I challenge them to look that doctrine in the face. Do you believe that
God created man and arbitrarily, sovereignlyit is the same thingcreated that
man, with no other intention, than that of damning him? Made him, and yet, for no other
reason than that of destroying him for ever? Well, if you can believe it, I pity you, that
is all I can say: you deserve pity, that you should think so meanly of God, whose mercy
endureth for ever. You are quite right when you say the reason why God loves a man, is
because God does do so; there is no reason in the man. But do not give the same answer as
to why God hates a man. If God deals with any man severely, it is because that man
deserves all he gets. In hell there will not be a solitary soul that will say to God, O
Lord, thou hast treated me worse than I deserve! But every lost spirit will be made to
feel that he has got his deserts, that his destruction lies at his own door and not at the
door of God; that God had nothing to do with his condemnation, except as the Judge
condemns the criminal, but that he himself brought damnation upon his own head, as the
result of his own evil works. Justice is that which damns a man; it is mercy, it is free
grace, that saves; sovereignty holds the scale of love; it is justice holds the other
scale. Who can put that into the hand of sovereignty? That were to libel God and to
dishonour him;

Now, let us look at Esau's character,
says one, "did he deserve that God should cast him away?" I answer, he did. What
we know of Esau's character, clearly proves it. Esau lost his birthright. Do not sit down
and weep about that, and blame God. Esau sold it himself; he sold it for a mess of
pottage. Oh, Esau, it is in vain for thee to say, "I lost my birthright by
decree." No, no. Jacob got it by decree, but you lost it because you sold it
yourselfdidn't you? Was it not your own bargain? Did you not take the mess of red
pottage of your own voluntary will, in lieu of the birthright? Your destruction lies at
your own door, because you sold your own soul at your own bargain, and you did it
yourself. Did God influence Esau to do that? God forbid, God is not the author of sin.
Esau voluntarily gave up his own birthright. And the doctrine is, that every man who loses
heaven gives it up himself. Every man who loses everlasting life rejects it himself. God
denies it not to himhe will not come that he may have life. Why is it that a man
remains ungodly and does not fear God? It is because he says, "I like this drink, I
like this pleasure, I like this sabbath-breaking, better than I do the things of
God." No man is saved by his own free-will, but every man is damned by it that is
damned. He does it of his own will; no one constrains him. You know, sinner, that when you
go away from here, and put down the cries of conscience, that you do it yourself. You know
that, when after a sermon you say, "I do not care about believing in Christ,"
you say it yourselfYou are quite conscious of it, and if not conscious of it, it is
notwithstanding a dreadful fact, that the reason why you are what you are, is because you will
to be what you are. It is your own will that keeps you where you are, the blame lies at
your own door, your being still in a state of sin is voluntary. You are a captive, but you
are a voluntary captive. You will never be willing to get free until God makes you
willing. But you are willing to be a bond slave. There is no disguising the fact, that man
loves sin, loves evil, and does not love God. You know, though heaven is preached to you
through the blood of Christ, and though hell is threatened to you as the result of your
sins, that still you cleave to your iniquities; you will not leave them, and will not fly
to Christ. And when you are cast away, at last it will be said of you, "you have lost
your birthright." But you sold it yourself. You know that the ball-room suits you
better than the house of God: you know that the pot-house suits you better than the
prayer-meeting; you know you trust yourself rather than trust Christ; you know you prefer
the joys of the resent time to the joys of the future. It is your own choicekeep it
Your damnation is your own election, not God's; you richly deserve it.

But, says one, "Esau repented."
Yes, he did, but what sort of a repentance was it? Did you ever notice his repentance?
Every man who repents and believes will be saved. But what sort of a repentance was his?
As soon as he found that his brother had got the birthright, he sought it again with
repentance, he sought it with tears, but he did not get it back. You know he sold his
birthright for a mess of pottage; and he thought he would buy it back by giving his father
a mess of pottage. "There," he says, "I will go and hunt venison for my
father. I have got over him with my savoury meat, and he will readily give me my
birthright again." That is what sinners say: "I have lost heaven by my evil
works: I will easily get it again by reforming. Did I not lose it by sin? I will get it
back by giving up my sins." "I have been a drunkard," says one, "I
will give up drinking, and I will now be a teetotaller." Another says, "I have
been an awful swearer; I am very sorry for it, indeed; I will not swear any more." So
all he gives to his father is a mess of pottage, the same as that for which he sold it.
No, sinner, you may sell heaven for a few carnal pleasures, but you cannot buy heaven by
merely giving them up. You can get heaven only on another ground, viz., the ground of
free-grace. You lose your soul justly, but you cannot get it back by good works, or by the
renunciation of your sins.

You think that Esau was a sincere
penitent. Just let me tell you another thing. This blessed penitent, when he failed to get
the blessing, what did he say? "The days of mourning for my father are at hand: then
will I slay my brother Jacob." There is a penitent for you. That is not the
repentance that comes from God the Holy Spirit. But there are some men like that. They say
they are very sorry they should have been such sinners as that, very sorry that they
should have been brought into such a sad condition as that; and then they go and do the
same that they did before. Their penitence does not bring them out of their sin, but it
leaves them in it, and, perhaps, plunges them still deeper into guilt. Now, look at the
character of Esau. The only redeeming trait in it was that he did begin with repentance,
but that repentance was even an aggravation of his sin, because it was without the effects
of evangelical repentance. And I say, if Esau sold his birthright he did deserve to lose
it; and, therefore, am I not right in saying, that if God hated Esau, it was because he
deserved to be hated. Do you observe how Scripture always guards this conclusion? Turn to
the ninth chapter of Romans, where we have selected our text, see how careful the Holy
Spirit is here, in the 22nd verse. "What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to
make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy,
which he had afore preparded unto glory." But it does not say anything about fitting
men for destruction; they fitted themselves. They did that: God had nothing to do
with it. But when men are saved, God fits them for that. All the glory to God in
salvation; all the blame to men in damnation.

If any of you want to know what I preach
every day, and any stranger should say, "Give me a summary of his doctrine," say
this, "He preaches salvation all of grace, and damnation all of sin. He gives God all
the glory for every soul that is saved, but he won't have it that God is to blame for any
man that is damned." That teaching I cannot understand. My soul revolts at the idea
of a doctrine that lays the blood of man's soul at God's door. I cannot conceive how any
human mind, at least any Christian mind, can hold any such blasphemy as that. I delight to
preach this blessed truthsalvation of God, from first to lastthe Alpha and the
Omega; but when I come to preach damnation, I say, damnation of man, not of God; and if
you perish, at your own hands must your blood be required. There is another passage. At
the last great day, when all the world shall come before Jesus to be judged, have you
noticed, when the righteous go on the right side, Jesus says, "Come, ye blessed of my
father,"("of my father," mark,)"inherit the kingdom
prepared"(mark the next word)"for you, from before the
foundation of the world." What does he say to those on the left? "Depart, ye
cursed." He does not say, "ye cursed of my father, but, ye cursed. "And
what else does he say?" into everlasting fire, prepared"(not for you,
but)"for the devil and his angels." Do you see how it is guarded, here is
the salvation side of the question. It is all of God. "Come, ye blessed of my
father." It is a kingdom prepared for them. There you have election, free grace in
all its length and breadth. But, on the other hand, you have nothing said about the
fathernothing about that at all. "Depart, ye cursed." Even the flames are
said not to be prepared for sinners, but for the devil and his angels. There is no
language that I can possibly conceive that could more forcibly express this idea,
supposing it to be the mind of the Holy Spirit, that the glory should be to God, and that
the blame should be laid at man's door.

Now, have I not answered these two
questions honestly? I have endeavoured to give a scriptural reason for the dealings of God
with man. He saves man by grace, and if men perish they perish justly by their own fault.
"How," says some one, "do you reconcile these two doctrines?" My dear
brethren, I never reconcile two friends, never. These two doctrines are friends with one
another; for they are both in God's Word, and I shall not attempt to reconcile them. If
you show me that they are enemies, then I will reconcile them. "But," says one,
"there is a great deal of difficulty about them." Will you tell me what truth
there is that has not difficulty about it? "But," he says, "I do not see
it." Well, I do not ask you to see it; I ask you to believe it. There are many
things in God's Word that are difficult, and that I cannot see, but they are there, and I
believe them. I cannot see how God can be omnipotent and man be free; but it is so, and I
believe it. "Well," says one, "I cannot understand it. My answer is, I am
bound to make it as plain as I can, but if you have not any understanding, I cannot give
you any; there I must leave it. But then, again, it is not a matter of understanding; it
is a matter of faith. These two things are true; I do not see that they at all differ.
However, if they did, I should say, if they appear to contradict one another, they do not
really do so, because God never contradicts himself. And I should think in this I
exhibited the power of my faith in God, that I could believe him, even when his word
seemed to be contradictory. That is faith. Did not Abraham believe in God even when God's
promise seemed to contradict his providence? Abraham was old, and Sarah was old, but God
said Sarah should have a child. How can that be? said Abraham, for Sarah is old; and yet
Abraham believed the promise, and Sarah had a son. There was a reconciliation between
providence and promise; and if God can bring providence and promise together, he can bring
doctrine and promise together. If I cannot do it, God can even in the world to come.

Now, let me just practically preach this
for one minute. Oh, sinners, if ye perish, on your own head must be your doom. Conscience
tells you this, and the Word of God confirms it. You shall not be able to lay your
condemnation at any man's door but your own. If you perish you perish by suicide. You are
your own destroyers, because you reject Christ, because you despise the birthright and
sell it for that miserable mess of pottagethe pleasures of the world. It is a
doctrine that thrills through me. Like a two-edged sword, I would make it pierce to the
dividing asunder of the joints and marrow. If you are damned it shall be your own fault.
If you are found in hell, your blood shall be on your own head. You shall bring the
faggots to your own burning; you shall dig the iron for your own chains; and on your own
head will be your doom. But if you are saved, it cannot be by your merits, it must be by
gracefree, sovereign grace. The gospel is preached to you; it is this: "Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."

May grace now be given to you to bring
you to yield to this glorious command. May you now believe in him who came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Free grace, who shall tell thy glories? who shall
narrate thy achievements, or write thy victories? Thou hast carried the cunning Jacob into
glory, and made him white as the angels of heaven, and thou shalt carry many a black
sinner there also, and make him glorious as the glorified. May God prove this doctrine to
be true in your own experience! If there still remains any difficulty upon your minds
about any of these points, search the Word of God, and seek the illumination of his Spirit
to teach you. But recollect after all, these are not the most important points in
Scripture. That which concerns you most, is to know whether you have an interest in the
blood of Christ? whether you really believe in the Lord Jesus. I have only touched upon
these, because they cause a great many people a world of trouble, and I thought I might be
the means of helping some of you to tread upon the neck of the dragon. May God grant that
it may be so for Christ's sake.